Improvement in copying apparatus



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM JAMES PURCELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

,lMPnovEMEN-r IN coPvlNe APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,351, dated June 27, 1871.

The following is a description of the construc` tion and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, in Which- Figure I is a perspective view of the box or reservoir with. the lid partly open; Fig. II, an end view with the lid partly open; Fig. III, aplan of the moistening-sheet.

I make a box or reservoir of iron or any other material which the manufacturer may iind most convenient, the inside ,of which (the box) must be made non-corrosive by enameling or coating, according to the metal used. The box is furnished with a cover or'lid, upon the inside of which are fastened two pieces of wire, A, so shaped as to form a fork. (See Fig. I.) Upon the front side of the box or reservoir there are two rollers, the use of which I shall describe further on. The rollers are so placed that when the lid is closed one rests upon the other. The moistening-shcet (see Fig. III) consists of blotting-paper or felt, covered on one side with netting to preserve it without affecting its usefulness, and on the other side with metal (non-corrosive) or card-board back. Two of the corners are out off the sheet, the object of which I shall describe further 011.

Havingnow described the way in which I make it, I will now proceed to specify the mode ofusing my invention. Having lled the box or reservoir with water, it is ready for use. Now, if you wish to damp a number of pages in your copying-book, raise the lid, by doing which you lift the moistening-sheet as it rests upon the fork which is attached to the cover. Then draw it (the moistening-sheet) through the rollers, thus draining it to a certain extent, and place it in the book, with the netting side next the pages you wish to moist l en, and with an oil-sheet or piece of blotting-paper each side of the quantity damped to keep the moisture Where you Want it, and with the edge of the sheet marked E toward the front of the book. Then put the book in the copyingpress and press it lightly, and, upon opening the book, you will iind the pages damp, smooth, and

` even, ready to be copied on instantly, or after seyeral hours have elapsed. The reason for the latter is that, the leaves being pressed close together by this process, the air cannot readily get at the leaves to make the water evaporate; consequently, in this manner, one may damp as many leaves in the book at once as he wishes to make copies on during the day.

The advantages are: First, in usinga dampingsheet as described an immense amount of time and labor is saved. Instead of damping a sheet at a time by hand and taking oft' extra moisture with a damping-sheet, as described, one may moisten a score of pages, making the press assist in doing away with labor, with it having no extra moisture to be taken oft'. Second, the sheets are evenly and properly saturated, retaining their moisture for hours after they are damped, or until copied on. Third, the corners of the moisteningsheet being cut, as shown in Fig. III, the corners corresponding in the book are kept dry, thus permttin g them to be turned over readily and without danger of tearing them.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. A box or reservoir, the inside Abeing made non-corrosive, with wire fork attached to the lid, as described, and with rollers, one on edgelof the lid and one on the edge of the box, for partly draining the moistening-sheet.

2. Making the moistening-sheet with two corners cut oft', as shown in Fig. III.

W. J. PUROELL.

Witnesses:

RoET. W. FENWTGK, EDM. F. BROWN. 

